CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Grammar
1. Definition of grammar
There are two components that should be mastered in teaching learning process of language, that are grammar and vocabulary. The word grammar has several meaning and many people attempt to define about grammar. There are definitions of grammar. Grammar is stated as the set of rules that combine words into larger units (Nelson, 2001: 1). It is also defined by (Ur 2006:4) as the way language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form sentence of meaning class and Harmer (2001: 12) defines grammar as the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in the language. Burns (2009: 10) also adds that grammar is essentially about the system and patterns in selecting and combining word.
Learning grammar means the study how words are constructed in sentence well, when the pattern of grammar is used appropriately, and how the sentence will be interpret correctly. It assumed that it is not only the way that contains a set of rules to make good sentence but also it tell about the system and pattern in selecting and combining word. It also tell about construction of sentence.
2. The Importance of Grammar
Grammar is an important language aspect that should be taught since it affects students‟ performance in all four skills such as: listening, writing,
grammar is important because it can help students in understanding and comprehending the essence of a text.
B. Writing
1. Definition of Writing
Writing is one of language skills besides listening, speaking and reading. There are many definition of writing according to many experts.
Writing is a communication tool with other people in written form. It is a language skill that used to indirect communication, not face to face with other people but it is in the form of written or printed symbols (Tarigan, 1994: 3). Writing is the ability to put pen and paper to express idea through symbols. Representations on the paper will have meaning and content that could be communicated to other people by the writer (Klein in Tan, 2009). Nunan (2004: 88) defines that writing is the process of thinking to invent ideas, thinking about how to express them into good writing, and arranging the ideas into statement and paragraph that are able to be understood by the readers.
From the definitions above, it can be conclude that writing is the way or the process to express or represent writer‟s idea as indirectly
communication.
2. The Purpose of Writing
them are writing that have the basic purpose of getting ideas from one mind into another. And here are some purposes of writing (Kate Grenville,2003: 10):
a. Writing to entertain
Entertain doesn‟t necessarily make the readers laugh, but it at least engages their feelings in some way. Think what it is like to be a reader, youcan be entertained by something very serious, even sad, as well as by something funny. Writing to entertain generally takes the form of so-called„imaginative writing‟ or „creative writing‟. The examples of
imaginative writing are novels, stories, poems, song lyrics, plays and screenplays. Sometimes imaginativewriting disguises itself as a „true story‟ for added effect.
b. Writing to inform
Inform tells the reader about something. These kinds of writing can also be „entertaining‟ in the sense that they are a good read. But
entertaining the reader is not their main purpose. The examples of writing to inform are newspaper articles, scientific or business reports, instructions or procedures, and essays for school and university.
c. Writing to persuade
logicalcase backed up with evidence, rather than just as an expression of yourfeelings.
3. The Problem in Writing
When the students write they often confuse what they want to write, the students not confidence about their write is correct or any mistake, and also pour in the thought into written form is not easy. There are many problems in writing (Nurgiyantoro, 2001: 298-299):
a. Lack of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is an important factor to master the language especially in writing. We release if we are not mastering the vocabularies well, of course we will get difficult in writing. Most of students face this problem, because they are not mastering the vocabularies, so they often write sentence which is not communicative. When they want to write something, they usually choose incorrect words in their composition. b. Grammatical Mistake
When students try to make composition, they always confuse whether their sentences are grammatically correct or not. Generally most of beginner students do not master English grammar well. They just start to learn English so their competence is still week especially in grammar. It becomes problem when they have to make composition which consist of sentences.
The problem usually faced by students in writing composition is about how to organize the idea into sentence. In writing composition, students usually write the content which not suitable with the theme. It happens because students get difficulties in developing their idea and sometimes they do not know what they will write. We can write composition well if we know the rule in writing paragraph. Before we write composition, we start by choosing the theme. Then, make an outline which can help us in arranging the sentence or paragraph. By those way, we can avoid some mistake in writing composition. Of course the content of the composition will suitable with the theme.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that in writing always pays attention at the problem in writing to get a good writing result and make the readers understand what the students write.
C. Recount Text
1. Definition of Recount Text
Based on definition above, it can be concluded that recount text means a text which tell about the events or experience in the past. It is purposed to inform or entertain the audience.
2. The Generic Structure of Recount Text
Recount text has some generic structure such as: 1. Orientation
The setting or orientation is the background information answering who,
when, where and why. It is also where you give an outline of what you are
writing about. 2. Events
Events are where the students write about the things that happened and are identified and described in chronological order (retell events in sequence). 3. Re-orientation
It‟s a personal opinion regarding the events described. In other words this
is where you bring your writing to a close by; saying how things went, saying what you felt about the things that happened and/or mentioning something which will or may happen later.
(Effendi et al, 2008: 24)
3. Language Features of Recount Text
1. The Language Features of Recount Text
Pattern:
Ex: I bought a magazine yesterday. She typed a report in one hour.
c. Using Chronological Connection (first, second, then, next, finally, etc.)
d. Using Conjunction ofTime, such as next, later, when, then, after, first, at the same time, as soon as, in the afternoon, etc.
(Hartono, 2005: 8)
4. The Evaluationof Text Writing
There are some aspects of writing that can be evaluate: a. Content (The Agreement with the Title Chosen)
This means that a good writing is when the title represents the content of it. The content of a text should be relevant or equivalent and describe the title in complete. Brown (2004: 73) states the writing section measures the ability to write English, including the ability to organize,develop ideas, to support those ideas with examples or evidence, to compose a response to one assigned topic in standard written English, and to generate. So, it can be concluded that the more students can develop their ideas which also load some good supporting ideas to be a good content, the better their writing will be.
b. Organization (Paragraph Unity, Coherence, and Cohesion)
This means that how the students organize their idea. Whether each paragraph is organize well or not. However, a good text consists of paragraphs which are arranged well with some connecting words which can make the paragraphs coherent.
c. Vocabulary (The Precision of Using Vocabulary)
This means that vocabulary is the most important thing that forms a phrase, sentence, and, further, paragraph. Rivers as cited in Nunan (1992: 11) writes that vocabulary is essential for successful study on the second language. In writing, a writer should use the appropriate vocabulary to express what they want to write.
d. Grammar
This means that tenses and structure mastery are really necessary to have paragraphs constructed. It‟s not important to use long sentence, but the grammar that is used is correct. It is difficult for students to arrange a good paragraph if they lack of tenses and stucture mastery. e. Mechanics (Spelling and Punctuation)
Paragraph is a combination of some sentences which needs good spelling and punctuation. Whether the students master the role how to write and make only few faults in the spelling
E. Errors Analysis
1. Definition of Error Analysis
Error analysis is defined as the study of linguistics ignorance, the investigation of what people do not know and how they attempt to cope with their ignorance. Error analysis was first introduced by Fries (1945) and Lado (1957) who have claimed that foreign or second language learners‟ errors can be predicted on the basis of the differences between the learners‟ native and second languages. They have also suggested that
where the aspects of the target language are similar to those of the learner‟s native language, learning will be easy; otherwise, it will be
difficult and second language learners are expected to make errors.
Longman dictionary of Linguistic (1985: 96) defines errors analysis as “the study and analysis errors made by the second and foreign language”. Ellis (1985: 296) defines it as “working procedure used by
researchers and language teacher to collect, identify, explain, classify, and evaluate errors”.
Brown (2000:1) states that researchers and teacher of second languages come to realize that the mistakes a person made in this process of constructing a new system of language needed to be analyzed carefully, for the possibly held in some of the keys to the understanding of the process of second language acquisition.
not be viewed as problems to be overcome, it is normal and inevitable features indicating the strategies that learners use. By describing and classifying learners‟ errors, the teacher can know how far the learners
have learned or understood the lesson and what items remain for them. Therefore, an errors analysis is needed in the process of language learning.
2. Differences between Error and Mistake
Error is different from mistake. According to Ellis (2003:17) error reflect gaps in learner knowledge, they occur because the learner does not know what is correct. Mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur because, in particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what he/she knows. Tarigan (1995: 74) said that mistakes are usually caused by the factor of performance. Usually students have already known the systematic rule of the languange being used, but because of something they forget about that system. Error is caused by the factor of competence. It means that the students have not know the linguistic system of the languange being used. Error usually occurs consistently and systematically. As distinguished by Tarigan (1995), as follow:
4. Linguistic
From the explanation, it can be illustrated by example of sentence. If the students write “my uncle was came last night., it has been known
that the correct one is ”came” not “was came”. When the student said ”he
came at 07.00 pm” in the next sentence, it can be assumed that it is a kind
of mistakes. It is because the student has already known that came means “datang” and the students revise the mistakes in the next sentence. If the student said “he is came at 07.00 p.m.” and he/she repeat it consistently, it
indicates that it is a kind of error.
After conducting tests, it is necessary to analyze and classify the error made by students in their writing. In this research, the errors will be classified according to Dulay, Burt and Krashen‟s (1982, as quoted by
Mardijono Josefa, 2003: 69). It is surface strategy taxonomy for describing learner‟s errors, which breaks them down into the following categories:
omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. Ellis (1997, as quoted in Ratnah, 2013: 160) maintains that “classifying errors in these way can help us to diagnose learners‟ learning problem at any stage of their development
and to plot how changes in error patterns occur over time.
3. Grammatical Errors
Grammar, the study of rules for the combination of word into sentences (syntax) and the form of words (morphology), is central not only speech, but also in writing. Improper use of grammar is influential to the flow of thoughts. In Writing the influence is even greater because when written communication take place the message sender is absent. The intelligibility is dependent solely upon the language used. (Suwartono & Priyantini, 2006: 22)
accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately after mastering these three dimensions.
4. Types of Grammatical Errors
The label of grammatical errors varies with the classification scheme or taxonomy adopted. Some useful and common taxonomies used as the base for descriptive classification of errors are: (1) linguistic category, (2) surface strategy taxonomy, (3) comparative analysis, and (4) communicative effect.(Suwartono & Priyantini, 2006: 22)
The theory used in this research about types of grammatical errors is surface strategy taxonomy. This taxonomy has been chosen because it is considered most useful and practical of all (Suwartono & Priyantini, 2006: 22). Classifying errors in this way can help us to diagnose learners‟ learning
Omission occurs when the learners omit one of items that must appear in a well-formed utterance (Dulay, Burt, and Kreshen, 1981 as quoted in Rarnah, 2013: 154)
Example It should be appear in well-form utterances. There are three types of addition errors as follow:
1) Double Marking
This error is marked by the failure of deleting or avoiding certain items in utterance.
Example It should be
My nephew doesn‟t eats candy. My nephew doesn‟t eat candy. I didn‟t bought a new book. I didn‟t buy a new book.
2) Regulation
It is typically added to linguistic items, such as the class of main verbs or the class of noun. There are both regular and irregular forms and constructions in language.
Example:
- the verb “come” does not become “comed” but “came” - the noun “child” does not become “childs” but children - the noun “foots” does not become “foots” but “feet”
The examples above are regulation errors, in which the regular plural noun and tense markers respectively have been added to items which do not take marker.
3) Simple Addition
Errors of simple addition refer to the addition of one element to the correct utterance.
Example:
c. Misformation
Misinformation is the use of the wrong or unacceptable form of the morpheme or structure. While in omission errors the item is not supplied at all, in misformation errors the learner supplies something, although it is incorrect. There are type of misformation below:
1) Regulation
Regulationerrors that fall under the misfomation category are those in which a regular marker is used in place of an irregular one. Here, the learners fail to choose or to select a proper word form.
Example:
My family and I go to Jakarta last week.
I stay in here for you. (I stay here for you) I am is a student.
2) Archie-form
It is defined as the selection of one member of a class of forms to represents others in the class, such as: this, that, those, and these.
Example :
This type of misformation errors has been called archi- form. “That” should be followed by singular forms, while “these” should be followed by the plural forms.
3) Alternative Form
It happens when students do not know or are confused of the use of verbs (infinitive and past participle).
Example:
I seen my brother yesterday. (I saw my mother yesterday)
The utterances above have incorrect verbs seen and saw instead of saw and seen respectively.
d. Misordering
Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance. The sentence can be right in presented elements, but wrongly sequenced.
That cats.
(That cat/ those cats) This students.
(These students / this student) These book.
(These books/ this book.) Those table.
Example :
Taking a look at both sentences above have incorrect placement of is and are. In addition to these creative misordering errors, the students have made written misordering errors that are word-for-word translation of native language surface structure.
5.Causes of Grammatical Error
John Norrish exposes three causes of errors:
a. Carelessness: It is often closely related to lack of motivation. Many
teachers will admit that it is not always the students‟ faults if they lose interest, perhaps the materials and/or the style of presentation do not suit them.
b. First language interference: Learning a language (mother tongue or a
foreign language) was a matter of habit information. The learners‟
utterances were thought to be gradually shaped towards those of the language they were learning.
c. Translation: Probably the most students make errors is translation. This
happens because a student translates the first language sentence of idiomatic expression into the target language word by word.
I don‟t know who is he. (I don‟t know who he is.) What you are thinking about?
It can be highlighted that Norrish divides the cause of errors into three categories, those are Carelessness, First Language Interference and Translation which those are from the learners themselves or the teacher, and the method.
(Hasyim, 2002: 47)
E. Review of Previous Study
In this study, the researcher takes three previous studies. The first is study that had been done by Lilik Sundari (2013), entitled “The Students‟
Ability. In Writing Recount Text of The Tenth Grade Students of State Senior High School 4 of Purworejo In The Academic Year 2012/2013. The aimed of her study were to know the students ability in writing recount texts and to know the errors that made by the students. In her research, the researcher took 32 students or 25% from the total number of tenth grade students to do the test. The result of her analysis were the ability of the students in writing recount text 62.5 was fair category and there were 59 errors. She used surface strategy taxonomy to classify the error, there were 25 items or 42.38% were omission errors, 17 items or 28.81% were addition errors, 3 items or 5.08% were misordering errors, 14 items or 23.73% were misformation errors .
(24%), additions (7%), misformations (65%) and misordering (4%). Misformation was the highest type of error occurred. The sources of those errors were overextention of analogy error (1%), transfer of structure errors (94%), and interlingual/intralingual errors (5%).
The third previous study was done by Sri Widian Hartati (2014) entitled “An Analysis of Students‟ Error in Writing Recount Text at The First Grade of Ma Yanuris Ciranjang”. The aimed of his research were to find out the amount of errors made by the students, to find out the most frequently error made by the students, to find out the least frequently error made by the students. She took 17 students at first grade students of MA Yanuris Ciranjang in Academic year 2012/2013 were selected as the sample. She also analyzed based on the types of error using Dulay‟s Theory (the surface strategy taxonomy). The result
of her study shows that the total amount of error made by the students were 158 errors. They included misformation type (73=46.20%), addition type (47=29.75%), omission type (31=19.62%) and misordering type (7=4.43%). 2) the most frequently error made by the students was misformation type (73=46.20%), 3) the least frequently error made by the students was misordering type (7=4.43%).
Based on the previous explanation about study that had been done, it show that man students did not understand to apply the correct grammar rules in their writing task and it is strongly proved that grammar is important to be analyzed in students‟ writing recount text.
F. Basic Assumption
small mistake in grammar will change the meaning of the sentence. Therefore, writing is difficult activity for the students because they must have a good writing capability and grammatical competence
It is important for teacher or researcher to know the students‟
grammatical errors in writing recount text and the common errors that made by the students because it can anticipate any grammatical errors made by students. It can be done by the teacher through paying attention to the most or common students‟ grammatical errors. The errors can be analyzed based on strategy taxonomy which is divided into some categories such as omission, addition, misformation, misordering. Classifying errors in these way can help us to diagnose learners‟ learning problem at any stage of their development and to
